Darkness
by sulfeawen13
Summary: An tattered, starving, and beaten twenty-eight year old shows up at Hogwarts, asking to stay the night. Dumbledore accepts, but this girl will end up bringing trouble, but not enough to overcome the help she'll give them. Rated for some laguage in some ch


Ella Halb looked at the huge stone castle in front of her, marveling at it. Shelter. Finally. She'd been walking for days looking for a place to stay, and was really hungry. Ella rapped her tattered black cloak around her tighter, and drew up the hood. The sky was beginning to blacken, there was going to be a massive storm, and Ella did not want to get caught in it. She walked up the large stone steps and met with the front of oak double doors. She reached out a tentative hand and knocked as hard as she could, just hoping it would be heard through the thick wood. There was a crackle of thunder, and it began to poor a freezing rain that chilled Elle's to-thin body to the bone. By the time someone answered the door (only about a minute later) Ella was already drenched.  
  
'This is gonna be one hell of a storm!' thought Ella, bemused.  
  
The door opened with a loud creak, and a scowling man faced Ella. He had shoulder-length, black greasy hair, cold black eyes, and was thin, tall, with almost white skin. He looked at her in slight distaste, thinking who- knows-what because of her hood.  
  
"What do you want?" snapped the man, his eyes narrowing.  
  
"Shelter, food, water, change of cloths, all the same." answered Ella, trying to make her voice deeper than it already was.  
  
"No. We don't take beggars, don't return." he growled, then a hand clenched his shoulder and another man appeared.  
  
"Severus, perhaps Albus should deal with this?" the second man asked quietly.  
  
Severus nodded silently, but looked as though he wished to say no. He cast her a dark look and scowled even deeper, if that was even possible. After Ella stepped inside of the castle's dark hallway, she got a good look at the second man. He had shaggy light brown hair speckled with gray, deep bluish-gray eyes, and he looked like he needed a few nice sized meals. His eyes met hers, and radiated tiredness and suffering that was unbearable to look into. Ella quickly averted her gaze from his, and looked at the ground.  
  
"Follow me please." He said, and began to walk through a maze of halls and staircases.  
  
When they finally reached a large stone gargoyle and stopped, Ella looked around, confused.  
  
"Yak." Snape snapped, and the gargoyle moved, opening to a huge staircase.  
  
Ella gapped at the gargoyle, and Snape grabbed her arm roughly, dragging her inside. The staircase took a few minutes to get up, but finally they reached a door. Snape knocked harshly on it and it opened. Ella entered a large circular room with a desk sitting in front of a small window. There was an old man with a very long white beard/hair and half-moon shaped glasses over his twinkling blue eyes sitting behind it. He smiled at them but there was a slight bit of worry behind it.  
  
"Take a seat, now. Remus, Severus, same for you. " Albus told them.  
  
Ella did as told and slumped down in exhaustion, but immediately straightened when she remembered she was trying to act as a boy. None of the boys she had met had ever slumped, but she hadn't met a very good selection.  
  
"Now, who will do the honor of explaining?" Albus asked, sitting back in his chair.  
  
Snape started to speak, but Remus glared at him his expression saying 'Uh- uh, you'll make it worse, we don't even know who she is.'  
  
"We found him knocking at the door, and it was just beginning to storm. We decided to let you deal with this." Remus said.  
  
Albus nodded, and looked at Ella warily.  
  
"Would you please tell me what it is you need." Albus asked finally, causing Snape to scowl and Ella to smirk under the shadow of her hood.  
  
"A change of cloths, food, water, bed, a shower, nothing more, nothing less. I would greatly appreciate it." Ella muttered in a deep voice.  
  
Snape's frown lines deepened.  
  
"Only if you remove you're hood." Albus answered after a moment of silence and Snape's face filled with a sick kind of glee.  
  
"If I must." Ella replied, sad that her cover had to be dropped so easily.  
  
Ella sighed and pulled her hood down, and the three men gapped at her.  
  
"You—you—you're a wo-omen!" stammered Snape, and Remus stared in amazement.  
  
She sighed again, she knew that (from years experience) she was not only a women, but very beautiful.  
  
Ella had waist-length straight and silky black hair that looked a dark, neon blue in some lighting. She was of medium height, very thin, and curvy. Her eyes were a deep, rich amber color that had a look of sadness radiating off of them. Her skin was very fair, and without blemishes, but there were a few markings.  
  
"Now you have seen, I have needed to keep up my disguise, and had done a wonderful job until you came around!" Ella cried.  
  
"How did you end up here?" asked Albus gently.  
  
Ella sighed, knowing this would take a few hours, then began her story…  
  
A/N Is it good, or does it really suck? Any type of reviews are welcome, feedback is a good, good thing. Also, do you think Ella should end up with Snape, Sirius, or Remus? It is a very hard decision… 


End file.
